by K. A Knight
He dies first.
We all move at the same time and I head straight for the last man. He raises his sword and one of mine clashes with his, blocking his downward swing while my other buries deep in his stomach. He gags, his eyes widening in shock as I spin, pulling it with me and letting him drop to his knees. A dagger flies past me, the air whistling next to my ear, and I feel it cut as it passes followed by blood dripping from the wound.
I duck as the axe soars above my head, so I turn behind the Berserker and, like I predicted, he struggles to turn, giving me enough time to slit his throat. Using him as I shield, I spin and hear the thud of dagger embedding in his chest before I drop him and leap over his body, heading to the one favouring his left leg. I slide to the floor, avoiding more daggers, and slice at his leg as he howls and stumbles before falling to the floor. I’m on him in a second, crouching on his chest as I drive one of my swords into his heart. It sticks into the floor beneath him and I growl in frustration as I struggle to pull it out, but I leave it there, having to jump to my feet to face the last man.
“Tazzie!” I hear my father shout, and I stumble for a second. I didn’t even know he was here with the dwellers, but I didn’t really look. That stumble costs me precious seconds and a cut opens up across my shoulder from a dagger I only just manage to slightly evade. I look at the cut and then at the last of the four Berserkers who’s palming another dagger.
“Now you’ve pissed me off,” I snarl. Holding my remaining sword, I dodge flying daggers as he rapidly throws them at me while I advance on him.
“Boo,” I whisper when I get to him. He stabs at my arm, the blade implanting in my free arm, and I hack at his side with my sword.
He stumbles to the side, clutching the wound gushing blood, and I slash again and again until he falls as nothing but a blood covered rogue. Breathing heavily, I look down at the knife sticking out of my arm. Eyeing the remaining rogues, I pluck it out and throw. It hits one the Berserkers and he goes down hard. The others seem to hesitate, and I use that to rip off the bottom of my shirt and bind the wound on my arm to staunch the blood flow. My fingers are tingling, but I can still feel my arm, which is good because it means he didn’t hit any nerves or arteries.
“Who’s next, you murdering pricks?” I call before eyeing them. “Or are you all scared a little slave girl is going to kill you?”
“You’re the only one dying here, and when you’re dead, we’ll all have our fun with Ivar’s whore.”
I roll my eyes. “Sure thing. Those are some big words for a man hiding in a corner.”
I hear the door open and I know it’s Archel, Evan, and Dray. “These are mine,” I growl in warning, not looking away from the Berserker.
“Awww, soulmate, at least let me get one or two?” Dray implores, sidling up next to me. He looks at my arm and his face flashes ice-cold. “Which one hurt you?”
“I already killed him,” I reply with a satisfied smile. When he doesn’t lose that look of death from his eyes, I sigh then concede, “Fine, you can have four, I’ll take the other seven.”
“Hey! That’s cheating,” Archel complains, coming up on my other side, and I grumble.
“Fuck, fine, you can have three! That leaves me with four, sound fair?” I look at both of them and they nod. “Good, that ugly bastard with the blue hair is mine though.”
“Got it,” they both say and move apart so we have room to fight.
“If you would so kindly line up in front of your chosen target,” I tease, with mirth dancing in my eyes as I stare down the Berserkers. They finally snap, bored with our talking. How rude.
The big, blue-haired bastard heads straight for me. A sword is too good for him, so I sheathe it and grab two small daggers, holding the hilts towards my body and wait. He yells as he swings his sword and I duck, moving under his grip. I stab at his side before spinning away. Two big cuts have opened on his side, dripping blood.
I grin at him as he lets out an outraged roar, before swinging and charging with no finesse. I duck and weave, moving around him and opening cut after cut until blood is dripping from so many wounds his face pales. Only then do I jump onto his back. He falls to the floor and I wrap myself around him as his knees absorb the impact. He tries to pull me off, but I duck my head into his shoulder and laugh. “Say hi to Ivar for me,” I whisper into his ear, before stabbing both blades into either side of his neck and yanking them out before flipping off his back.
He falls to the floor, his eyes wide and unseeing, and I sheathe the daggers and grab my swords again, before turning to the next man. One has gotten smart and grabs my father, holding him like a shield with a knife at his throat. I swagger towards them, leaving Evan, Dray, and Archel to deal with the rest. “Not a smart move,” I tell him and shrug.
“I’ll kill ‘im!” he shouts, and I spot a drop of blood from a cut on my father’s neck. I meet his eyes to see he’s scared but resigned. He thinks he will die here.
Slipping my bad arm closer to my body, I slowly pluck a blade from my thigh, shielding my movements as I turn slightly to the slide. “Do it, I don’t even know him,” I answer calmly
He freezes for a second, thinking through my answer, and that’s when I move. I snap my bad arm back, clenching my teeth as the wound opens again, and let the dagger fly. It hits him square in the eye and he drops the blade from my father’s neck. I rush him, grabbing my dad and pushing him to the side before pulling the blade from the screaming berserker and slitting his throat.
He gurgles, his one good eye wide and filled with fear—the look you get when you realise you’re going to die. I watch him, my face cold and deadly, until he falls backwards to the floor. Turning my back on him, I spot the blood-soaked dwellers, all pale and clearly in shock. Dray is hacking at a Berserker, Archel kills the last one standing, and I even spot Evan with a body or two at his feet. My father stumbles towards me, his face ashen as he looks at my bleeding arm then back to my face. In his eyes, it’s clear—I’m nothing but a stranger to him.
“How…are you okay?” he asks, keeping a clear distance between us, which shouldn’t hurt, but it does.
Evan rushes to my side, tugs away my makeshift bandage, and mumbles about idiot warriors as he pokes and prods at the edge of the wound. “Grab me a kit, now!” he yells, and my father jumps but rushes away to get it, using any excuse to get away from me.
Gritting my teeth, I look at Dray who follows my father’s hasty steps with a glare of his own, but Archel steps in front of me with a grin. “I win,” he taunts.
“Fuck,” I mumble, then bite my tongue to hold in a scream as Evan digs his finger into the wound. I taste my own blood as I glare down at the doc who’s ignoring me while he fishes around in the wound. I open my mouth to shout at him, but he pulls the tip of a blade from the injury and tosses it aside before pressing his hands against the still bleeding wound.
Well shit.
“Thanks, Doc,” I say instead, and my father hurries to our side, passing over what looks like a medical kit with shaking hands.
“You okay?” I ask him, but he refuses to look at me, just stares at my arm as Evan treats it. “Where’s your captain?” I snap, and he looks at me then, blinking to clear his foggy brain.
“I don’t know…I came out when the siren sounded to see the guards already fighting, they were trying to get us all to fall back farther into the bunker, but we got cut off and I heard over the radios they were leaving us to die,” he mutters, finally straightening into the leader I remember from the first time I came to Paradise. “Goddamn army men, do they really think we would stand for this? They will never lead after this!”
The door opens then and guards rush in, the captain at the back of them. I roll my eyes. Of course he’s hiding behind his men. He looks around the room before his eyes lock on me. Dray and Archel move to my side, standing with me while Evan keeps tending to my arm. The way he keeps pulling on the wound makes me want to wince, but I refuse to show any weakness in front of this
man.
“What the fuck are you doing here? We didn’t need your help, I had it under control!” he yells, marching up and going toe to toe with me. I have to crane my neck back to meet his eyes, and I know he did it on purpose to try and intimidate me. Idiot doesn’t realise I’ve been fighting men bigger and stronger than me for years. My size and gender make arrogant men underestimate me, but I use that to my advantage.
“Let me guess? Let the grunts do the work while you hide behind them shouting orders? A real fucking leader fights alongside them, and you don’t tell your people to do anything you wouldn’t be willing to do! I would face an army for my people, what would you do for yours?” I say it loudly, hearing the shuffling of his men as they realise I’m right.
“If it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t be in this situation. No one knew where we were! You led them here. Who’s to say you aren’t behind this attack and then killed your own people to try and get on our good side?” he questions.
I hear them murmur then, obviously thinking through his logic and he steps back, sweeping his arm across the dead Berserkers. “They bear the same marks as you and your army, so tell me, savage, why we shouldn’t kill you here and now?”
At that, the guards point their weapons at us. This whole situation is so ridiculous, I start laughing, I can’t help it. They shift nervously, looking at their captain for direction. I wheeze, I’m laughing that hard, before I manage to get some words out. “You think I would kill my own people? To what? Make friends with you? Bitch, please, I don’t need you. You need us. We rule the fucking Wastelands. You might have guns and a bunker, but we have the whole fucking north and our armies to back it up. So, I suggest you reconsider aiming those guns before I get annoyed and decide to go to war with you.”
I take a step forward, forcing Evan to let go of my arm. “Think carefully about your next move. Do you really want a war? You’ve seen what us so called savages can do. Do you think you can survive that?” I look around at the groups of people huddling in the corner, and the dead guards and Berserkers. “Because I don’t think you can, without us here, you would have died, and your people know it. So, go on, insult us one more time and you’ll be the reason why your people are wiped from existence.”
I’m done playing. I refuse to cater to this man. I’ve bowed and scraped as a slave until I won my freedom, and I won’t go back to that. No man, captain or not, owns me, and it’s about time he realises that because I’m smarter, stronger, and hell of a lot more likely to survive.
That’s what I always do—survive.
My father steps between us then, holding his arms out to either side, but I don’t take my eyes away from the captain. He looks like he’s trying to think of a way to frame us, make us appear as if we’re the bad guys, so he can shoot us.
“I was a witness,” my father starts, meeting the captain’s incensed stare and holding it before scanning his gaze across the crowd. “Without these people, without Worth and her savages, we would have been slaughtered.” He returns his gaze to the captain with a fire in his eyes. “After all, you made no move to come and save us! We need to work together, not separately. I’m taking back leadership. You no longer run this bunker, Captain. You and your guards might think you protect us, but it is clear you can’t do that well enough. Our people deserve better, you will not sully that by destroying the bonds with the people who just saved us from certain death.” He tilts his head back and I hear the dwellers we saved mumble before they stand one by one, and step next to my father, blocking us from the guns.
“We would have died.”
“Where were you?”
“They might be savages, but they saved us.”
One after another they throw in their support. I know it’s not for us, but more so for my father, which doesn’t matter.
“Stand down,” the captain calls, and the guns instantly drop. He looks at me then, realising he’s not going to get what he wants. “We owe you thanks,” he says stiffly, his face red and his jaw clenching, “but do not overstay your welcome. I will escort you outside.” He flashes me his white teeth. “After all, out there you rule, down here you do not.”
As the last word leaves his lips an explosion rocks the ground and I stumble, but Dray catches my arm, keeping me upright.
“What the hell was that?” the captain shouts, looking at his men. “Report!”
“Sir, it looks like the barbarians got into the armoury and set charges around Paradise!”
The captain swears and my father steps forward. “We need to evacuate. Until you can search the bunker to ensure there are no more surprise charges, we will not be losing any more lives today.” He looks at me then. “Lead the way, Worth, let our people be safe in your Wasteland until we can ensure it is safe down here to come back home.”
Well, fuck.
Anxiety tightens my chest knowing I can’t leave all these civilians alone outside while their guards sweep the place for bombs. That means more time away from my men, but how can I abandon these people and go to my men with more innocent blood on my hands?
The answer is I can’t. Looks like we’re setting up camp outside of Paradise until we know it’s safe.
Sands below, this is going to suck.
An Empty Paradise
We all move out of Paradise quickly. The bunker door is raised and then closed on us as soon as we are through, while the captain and his guards move back into the bunker to check for explosives and any living Berserkers. Turning around, I blow out my breath and take in the Paradise dwellers. They all look terrified and are gazing around in awe. I’m betting it’s the first time a lot of them have been outside. My father grabbed some supplies on the way out and we helped drag them outside. Crossing my arms, my eyes run over the gathered people.
“I’ll go get our people. They can help set you up. We won’t do it too close to the bunker just in case, but you want to be shielded by the buildings. We will circle the camp with our army as a protection measure,” I order loudly, and my father nods and turns away to talk to his people. I look at Dray. “Keep an eye out, I’ll be back.”
He nods, watching the dwellers with a smirk. I move swiftly, heading back to our army who are busy watching the road and fighting between themselves. “Alright, pack up people! There’s a change of plans.” I glance at Bern and Henry then who move closer. “Rogue Berserkers attacked the bunker, they set charges, and we are waiting outside with the dwellers to ensure they aren’t slaughtered. None of them are to be killed, anyone who touches a Paradise dweller dies by my hand, make sure they know. Grab your shit, we are going to be camping for a day or two.”
“Aye, Ma Queen.” Bern moves off quickly for such a big guy.
“You sure about this?” Henry asks.
“No, but if we leave them they will die, and I can’t live with that. My men are fighters, they can survive a bit longer, I have to trust them with that. Plus, it will give the leaders more time to get to The Ring. Keep a close eye out though, I don’t trust these people,” I instruct, and Henry nods and moves away. I grab my bike and drive back to where Dray, Archel, Evan, and my father are setting up camp away from the blast doors, and to the side of the building where it is sheltered by another structure. It’s a smart move, makes a tunnel of sorts, but with plenty of room to manoeuvre.
I wait for our people to roar to a stop behind me, all the dwellers look up in fear and cringe away. “No one will hurt you, they know the price, but do not betray my people while we are here protecting you, or you will suffer the same fate. Death by my hand. Berserkers camp this side, make a blockade, Seekers take the other side. I want three people on watch on either side at all times. Bern and Henry, organise someone,” I look over at them then. “I want two men on top of that building on lookout at all hours, and two men stationed outside the blast doors. Understood?”
“Yas, Ma Queen.”
“Yes, ma’am,” comes the calls and I nod, moving my bike to the side and parking before heading towards my father
.
“We will keep our people apart and hopefully we will survive the next day or two. Get them ready for the night. I saw you grab tents, didn’t I?”
“Yes, there won’t be enough for everyone,” he muses, his hair out of place, and his shirt ripped and covered in blood.
“Don’t worry about us, we have our own and we are used to sleeping outside,” I reply with a shrug.
“Ma Queen, I have found you a tent, you should have one.” Bern lumbers over with a tent over his shoulder.
“Who did you steal it from?” I see a frustrated looking dweller glaring at Bern’s back and snicker. “Thanks, put it near the entrance, will you?”
He nods. “We are putting the bikes across as a first defence as well.” He trudges away again.
“Your people respect you,” my father murmurs, and I look over at him as Dray appears at my side.
“She earned that through blood, sweat, and years of torture. How did you get your leadership?” he snaps.
“I was, er, voted in,” my father replies, not looking Dray in the face, and that’s when I realise he is scared of him. “I’ll go help my people.”
“Wait, you have water going down there somehow. Is there anyway to access it up here?”
“Erm, I’m not sure, let me grab someone who will know.” He rushes away then and we watch him go.
“How can he not know about his own people? Do they really think that little of water when the rest of the North constantly battles dehydration?” Archel spits. “Fuck, I want to kill them all. Spoiled bastards.”
“How the other half live,” I scoff.
A man comes running up with sweat dripping down his head and his shirt removed. He’s well-built with short, styled blond hair and green, loose trousers. “Hi, erm, your father said you needed to see me about water irrigation?”
I look at Dray with a raised eyebrow and he smirks. “He’s too pretty for your harem, soulmate.”